Ülkümen, Selahattin

(285 words)

Selahattin Ülkümen(1914–2003) was born in the city of İskenderun (Alexandretta) in 1914. During World War II, while serving as Turkey’s consul-general on the Greek island of Rhodes, he saved many members of the island’s Jewish community after the Germans took over the occupation from the Italians. On July 19, 1944, the German commanding officer, General Ulrich Kleemann, ordered the Jewish population of the island rounded up, to be shipped to extermination camps. Ülkümen, at great personal risk, intervened on behalf of the Jews, demanding the immediate release of those who were Turkis…